Maravi

Saasa urges govt to translate statistics into tangible benefits

Saasa urges govt to translate statistics into tangible benefits
By Fridah Zinyama
Tue 12 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

ZAMBIA’S good economic statistics will remain meaningless as long as average citizens do not feel the benefits of this growth, economic consultant Professor Oliver Saasa has said.

And Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) secretary general Oswell Munyeyembe has said the benefits of positive economic growth should result in reduced prices for commodities and services in the country.

Meanwhile, University of Zambia (UNZA) Development Studies lecturer Dr Fred Mutesa said Zambia’s positive economic growth attained should lead to qualitative improvement in people’s living standards.

At the close of last year, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) announced that the country’s annual inflation rate hit single digit at 9.9 per cent and preliminary data indicated that the country’s economic growth rate had reached 6.3 per cent while poverty also recorded a marginal decline.

Prof Saasa said although the country had managed to close last year on a positive economic note, the challenge of allocating resources to priority areas of the economy still remained.

“It is good that we have ended the year (2009) with a single digit inflation rate, a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 6.3 per cent and lower interest rates as a country but what does this really mean for the average Zambian on the streets?” he asked.

Prof Saasa said the government should this year ensure that it allocated enough resources to areas such as agriculture and infrastructure development which would have more impact on improving the lives of the local citizenry.

“At the moment, government has not done much to improve the irrigation system in the country even though it had put in place the National Irrigation Plan which was meant to run from 2003-2011,” he said.

“But the funds set aside for this project were taken to the Citizens Economic Empowerment Fund which can only be accessed by people who already have resources.”

Prof Saasa said it was unfortunate that up to now, the country had to “pray” for rains to have a good farming season, adding that there was panic if any indications of a drought arose.

“If the irrigation system is well developed in the country, then farmers will be assured of production whether there is rain or not and the majority of people employed by the sector will be assured of employment,” he said.

Prof Saasa added that there was also need to invest in infrastructure development in economic areas like farm blocks.

“Growth is nothing if it does not benefit the majority of the people in the
country,” said Prof Saasa.

And Munyeyembe said the cost of food in Zambia was still very high despite the country recording positive economic growth and single-digit inflation at the end of 2009.

“Even though inflation has been going down over the past few months, the buying power of miners had remained the same, if not worsened,” he said.

“For example, on the Copperbelt, we are buying a bag of roller meal for K49,000 which is very expensive for miners who have not had a salary increment for some time now.”

Munyeyembe said MUZ expected the good economic trends to positively benefit all citizens in the country and not just a few individuals.

“When the economy is growing, people should see where you have come from and where you are going,” he said.

Munyeyembe said infrastructure development was also a good sign that the economy was growing in the country.

“Look at the state of roads on the Copperbelt, Mufulira-Sabina is worse than the Pedicle road,” said Munyenyembe. “If the economy is growing, the benefits should be seen.”

Meanwhile, Dr Mutesa said the positive macro growth in the country was not enough unless it translated into the empowerment of its citizenry.

He said economic growth should manage to tackle poverty at country as well as household level for it to be meaningful.

Dr Mutesa added that there was urgent need to diversify the economy from mono-dependence on copper mining to avoid the pitfalls of the external pressures such as the recent recession which negatively affected the country.

Labels: ECONOMY, FRED MUTESA, GDP, MUZ, OLIVER SAASA, OSWELL MUNYENYEMBE

posted by MrK @ 7:51 AM